Not what you are for, but what are you against

(Image of Aleksander Dugin: BBC)

As Buzzfeed reports, the staff of Kremlin-sponsored Russia Today (RT) in the UK was rather upset at the rumour that Katie Hopkins, a columnist from the Daily Mail and a vocal supporter of Donald Trump, might become a presenter on RT.

“We used to like to challenge dominant narratives from the left, but since the migrant crisis there’s been a massive shift to the right,” an RT collaborator said to Buzzfeed. Another RT staff member explained: “The readership of the website in particular is obsessed with Muslims and ridiculously in love with any kind of conspiracy theorist.”

Perhaps the surprised staff at RT hasn’t seen this interview with Alexander Dugin: This political scientist with close ties to the Kremlin and the Russian military explained in 2012 how Russia should look for allies – and described the strategy of pro-Kremlin disinformation:

“What we are against will unite us, while what we are for divides us. Therefore, we should emphasize what we oppose. The common enemy unites us, while the positive values each of us are defending actually divide us. Therefore, we must create strategic alliances to overthrow the present order of things, of which the core could be described as human rights, anti-hierarchy, and political correctness – everything that is the face of the Beast, the anti-Christ or, in other terms, Kali-Yuga.”